The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald - 1636 Words

The 1920s: Two Perspectives, One Story F. Scott Fitzgerald s The Great Gatsby and Toni Morrison s JAZZ both tell the story of the 1920s in America, but from opposite points of view. Both authors provide us with two compelling narratives of the societal shift that took place in America after World War I had come to an end. Although the accounts share many of the same general topics, as well as the historical era, it is difficult to imagine how the two stories could be so different from one another. It is as though the two authors are giving a description of the same coin, but one describes the front and the other describes the back. To the white population this decade was a time of disillusioned self-indulgence. But to the black†¦show more content†¦But, the events of one drunken afternoon conspire to bring about an ending which includes the death of Tom’s mistress, Myrtle, as well as the murder of Gatsby, followed by the suicide of Wilson, Myrtle’s husband. Fit zgerald creates a picture of a lifestyle that is both fascinating and horrific. In all its excitement The Great Gatsby brilliantly captures the American dream both in its prime as well as its nadir. Morrison’s JAZZ is the story of a love triangle between three people living in Harlem during the Jazz Age. It tells story of Joe Trace, a married man in his fifties and Violet Trace. In 1906 the couple rode the train into New York City and began a new life there, Joe as a door-to-door beauty product salesman, Violet as a hairdresser. However, Joe’s has an affair with eighteen-year-old Dorcas Manfred and later murders her out of an outrage of love and anger. Violet attacks Dorcas’ body at her funeral seeking revenge. After Dorcas death, Joe and Violet continue to live together. In the spring, Joe mourns Dorcas s death and he and Violet patch things up in their relationship, mediated in part by their new friendship with Dorcas s best friend, Felice. Violet eventually realizes that Dorcas was a troubled young woman and that she has Joe’s attention now after he killed Dorcas. JAZZ gives us a very real glimpse of what it must have been like to be a black cit izen in Harlem during the Harlem Renaissance,